Jean worked on
her part of the mandala
and passed it onto Paul. As he added to it, his lines were dominant and
dark, bouncing back and forth over Jean’s work, nearly obliterating it.
You could feel that Jean was upset but youwouldn’t know it from her smile. Yet after
the session, the group discussion led to Jean sharing her discomfort
with having her work being drawn over and her own feelings of
powerlessness. She decided that from that point onward she would no
longer let someone else have control over her. She had begun to stand
her ground, and doing so, live her truth.*

Unlike actions and words that don’t
always match, the mandala cannot help but reveal what’s really going on.
An individual may pretend to be happy or a group may pretend to get
along, and in these cases you may feel the truth but with the
mandala you can virtually see it

“Your subconscious mind is always trying
to show you things. Whether images are popping into your head while
you’re on the phone, at a lecture or watching tv, it’s important to pay
attention. To ask, What are you trying to tell yourself?” David
Rankine begins.

Rankine is an artist who specializes in
the healing art of mandalas. He believes that if you take a moment to
stop and listen you’ll discover that your mind is telling you to speak
your truth, to slow down or to just stop and take notice. He says: “You
know all the questions and you know all the answers. You only have to
access them.”

Used for deep meditation, relaxation or
introspection, mandalas emphasize the sacredness of the present moment.In Sanskrit, mandala means ‘circle’ or ‘completion.’ It’s an art
form that’s been used by healers, shamans and Tibetan monks for
centuries. Commonly known mandalas include medicine wheels and
dreamcatchers and they can be found in the architecture of many great
cathedrals and mosques.

According to psychoanalyst Carl Jung, the
mandala represents the unconscious self with its structure built around
a center and containing images made of lines, symbols and geometric
patterns. These shapes are believed to be representations of a person’s
subconscious mind and are said to show one’s weaknesses and strengths,
dreams and hopes.

Mandalas literally ‘draw out’ the
intentions of the artist, subconsciously. Rankine explains: “The act of
drawing a mandala is a processor for dealing with the issues - bringing
them up into the light of day to be reflected upon and assimilated into
the internal and external self.”

By creating a mandala, the artist views
their subconscious mind and can come to powerful conclusions that may
lead to healing via newfound self-confidence and awareness.

Describing the mandala as a place to
problem-solve, Rankine sees the art as a healthy vehicle that releases
buried subconscious stresses to come to terms with them, and to free
them in the conscious mind. Rankine says: “You feel a sense of release
in that moment because now the feeling that was buried in the
subconscious mind is up in the conscious realm – out into the sunlight,
so to speak.”

“In the Jungian sense, we’re loaded up
with baggage from childhood and beyond. Through the mandala, we ask,
How does this serve me? Is this really me? And then we allow
ourselves to let go of it,” Rankine continues. By accessing these
subconscious emotions, clients receive clarity on different issues that
may be plaguing them. As one draws the mandala, one chooses their
colours intuitively and draws lines randomly until the finished product
is complete.

Once completed, clients look at their
mandala and learn to decipher the messages within. Rankine describes the
practice: “Your mandala will reveal things that are bothering you.
Conflicts you want to bring up are seen through your drawings and these
problems can then be integrated and cast away.”

The self-expression of the mandala should
come easily and naturally. Rankine believes children do mandalas all the
time and even adults create them frequently. These could be doodles or
complex-spontaneous illustrations. When we notice one, he asks us to pay
attention to these so-called random images to see what inner messages
lay within. “Even doodling for just five minutes can lead to amazing
results. Suddenly you’re calm. You’re no longer feeling upset or
agitated,” he comments.

Through self-made imagery, mandalas place
your emotions and thoughts right in front of you. “You may see yourself
drawing webs and realize that you feel caught in the middle of one and
then you look for a resolution to free yourself from the entrapment,”
Rankine explains.

Abstract images formed in a mandala are
the same forms, colours and emotions that exist in ones dreamscape.
Rankine discusses how the shapes and colours chosen reflect what the
artist feels and thinks. “Maybe some colours aren’t fitting together or
your lines are harsh and agitated - all of this creativity is expression
that’s being pushed out of the subconscious mind and into the world to
be healed.”

Rankine remembers: “Once I attended a
holiday celebration with a divorced family. As they created their group
mandala the tension that originally existed in the room began to clear.
Suddenly everyone was joined, working together and sharing as if one
unit. By having this commonality of purpose and action it made it easier
for everyone to understand each other and communicate.”

“Art therapists often ask me, ‘What’s the
difference between what I do and what they do?’ I guess the difference
is that I start off with a structure, a guided visualization that gives
my clients a safe space to fill,” he ponders.

By working with the mandala, one is
expected to enter a process of evolution. Rankine believes that everyone
is constantly evolving every day and that the experience of the mandala
is just a reminder of that: “You’re always getting bigger and bigger,
and there’s always space for everybody to keep on growing,” he believes.

The mandala can become a portal to a new
perspective. “All of a sudden, you’re not the same as you were before -
you’ve become a new person,” Rankine exclaims. As we conclude our
interview you can hear the excitement mounting in his voice and can
almost envision a spectrum-filled mandala taking shape beneath his
pastel-marked fingertips.

*Names have been changed

Jessica Halman-Schmidt is a freelance
writer, reiki practitioner and intuitive counsellor. She can be reached
at
jessica_halman@yahoo.ca